Epic Games announced today that it has removed its three Infinity Blade for iOS games from the App Store. The three games are no longer available to purchase from the App Store and all in-app purchases have also been removed. Epic Games explained its decision in a blog post.
From 9to5Toys.com:
Update (12/22 3:15pm):
Update (12/21 3:10pm): The app deals just keep coming! This post has now been updated with all of the latest apps and games on sale for the holidays. You’ll find all the newest additions at the top of each category below.
As usual at this time of year, many of the most popular and highly rated iOS and Mac games/apps are going on sale for the holidays. While you may notice a few apps from this past week’s daily roundups, we have scoured the App Stores to bring all of the best and most notable deals to one place. Some highlights include sales on the entire Infinity Blade Trilogy, a massive list of Final Fantasy titles, 2Do, Duet Display, MacPhun photo editors, a few of Apple’s App/Game of the Year 2015 picks and much more:
This year’s Black Friday games and apps deals are now in full swing. We have rounded up all the best console bundles, games/amiibo and packed our daily roundups full of some of the best deals of the year. Along with the new Free App of the Week, Apple has now launched a 50% off holiday apps sale and we have been seeing very notable price drops on popular titles all week long. So we thought we would bring all the best deals into one helpful roundup.
Below you’ll find all the best freebies/discounts that we have seen on the App Stores thus far, plus a few more notable sales on Mac games and productivity apps:
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Review: Monoprice’s new action camera is loaded with value for a fraction of GoPro’s price tag
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
1-year PlayStation Plus membership $40 shipped (Reg. $50) http://t.co/0UL1qq5ADm pic.twitter.com/5H1YVQDUIz
— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) May 8, 2015
From 9to5Toys.com:
With so many Black Friday deals popping up this week, we thought it would be helpful to organize a list of the most popular iOS game/app discounts into one place. Most of the discounts below will be available through Cyber Monday and into next week, but be sure to check back as we will be adding more notable price drops as they happen.
And remember, you can save 15% on future app purchases with these discounted iTunes gift cards from Staples (use code: 35458 in the cart).
iOS Universal: The Dark Knight Rises: $1 (Reg. $7) – 4 stars from 6,490 Ratings
iOS Universal: Infinity Blade Trilogy Sale: $10 (Reg. $20) – 4+ stars from around 500K Ratings
iOS Universal: MEGA MAN X: $1 (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 2,127 Ratings
iOS Universal: Plex: $2 (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars 11,497 Ratings
iOS Universal: Rayman Jungle Run: $1 (Reg. $3) – 4.5 stars from 24,539 Ratings
iOS Universal: Gangstar Vegas: $1 (Reg. $3) – 4 stars from 6,589 Ratings
iOS Universal: Deemo: $1 (Reg. $2) – 4.5 stars from 8,816 Ratings
iOS Universal: BADLAND: $1 (Reg. $4) – 4.5 stars from 18,904 Ratings
iOS Universal: 9mm: $1 (Reg. $7) – 4.5 stars from 4,228 Ratings
iOS Universal: République: $2 (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 6,194 Ratings
iOS Universal: Clear Day – Weather HD (formerly): $2 (Reg. $4) – 4 stars from 20,619 Ratings
iOS Universal: Calendars 5: $3 (Reg. $7) – 4.5 stars from 5,307 Ratings
iOS Universal: Printer Pro : $5 (Reg. $7) – 4.5 stars from 11,068 Ratings
iOS Universal: Ultimate Productivity Bundle by Readdle: $12 (Reg. $32)
iOS Universal: W.E.L.D.E.R.: FREE (Reg. $3) – 4.5 stars from 18,408 Ratings
iOS Universal: Assassin’s Creed Pirates: FREE (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 9869 Ratings
iPhone: Toy Defense 2: FREE (Reg. $2) – 4.5 stars from 3,283 Ratings
iPhone: Toy Defense: FREE (Reg. $2) – 4.5 stars from 34,364 Ratings
iPhone: TurboScan: FREE (Reg. $3) –5 stars from 16,134 Ratings
iPhone: Real Racing 2: $1 (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 18,783 Ratings
iPhone: Blek: $1 (Reg. $3) – 4.5 stars from 13,353 Ratings
iPhone: Doodle God™: $1 (Reg. $2) – 4.5 stars from 35,077 Ratings
iPhone: Blek: $1 (Reg. $3) – 4.5 stars from 13,353 Ratings
iPhone: Animoog for iPhone: $2 (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 13,353 Ratings
iPad: Toy Defense HD: FREE (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 12,253 Ratings
iPad: Toy Defense 2 HD: FREE (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 2,596 Ratings
iPhone: Star Walk – 5 Stars Astronomy Guide: $1 (Reg. $3) – 4.5 stars from 8,606 Ratings
iPhone: FX Photo Studio – photo editor, filters, effects, …: $1 (Reg. $3) – 4 stars from 12,107 Ratings
iPad: Real Racing 2 HD: $1 (Reg. $7) – 4.5 stars from 15,228 Ratings
iPad: Blueprint 3D HD: $1 (Reg. $2) – 4.5 stars from 9,031 Ratings
iPad: Osmos for iPad: $1 (Reg. $5) – 4.5 stars from 23,956 Ratings
iPad: Animoog: $5 (Reg. $30) – 4.5 stars from 1,666 Ratings
Stay locked to our Black Friday coverage all week long and head over to our daily roundups for all the best game/app deals.
Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
Today’s can’t miss deals:
Last Call Updates:
Game/App Deals:
Apple iPad mini 32GB w/ 4G AT&T $330 (Reg. $559), 64GB (1st Gen) w/ 4G Verizon/AT&T $360 (Reg. $659)
Save 20% on ZAGG InvisibleSHIELD protection for iPhone, iPad and more
WD My Cloud 4TB Personal Cloud Storage NAS $180 shipped (Reg. $220) http://t.co/W03o457a5v pic.twitter.com/PXpEi8xx84
— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) July 3, 2014
Other new deals:
More deals still alive:
https://twitter.com/iDannyOcean/status/484327987958259712
New products/ongoing promotions:
Microsoft/Google/Android:
Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+
Today’s can’t miss deals:
IGN’s FREE iOS game of the month: Infinity Blade II ($7 savings)
LifeProof Sale up to 75% off: Arm Band for iPhone 5/5s: $13 (Reg. $50), frē iPhone 5 Case: $60 (Reg. $80), free shipping
Samsung EVO 1TB 2.5-inch SATA-3 SSD: $540 shipped (36% off)
Other great deals from today:
The best deals that are still alive:
Be sure to follow 9to5Toys to keep up with the best gear and deals on the web: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+
Today’s can’t miss deals:
Giveaway: Just-Mobile AluCup aluminum iPhone stand ($30 value)
Mophie Juice Pack Helium Protective Charging Case Refurb. for iPhone 5/5S $35 shipped (Reg. $99)
App/Game Deals:
iPad Deals:
Get a free Sonos bridge ($49 value) and up to $40 Amazon credit w/ a Sonos Play wireless speaker
$50 Brinker gift card for $40. Your choice: Chili’s, Macaroni Grill, Maggiano’s, On The Border. http://t.co/iWPG1FjOs7
— 9to5Toys (@9to5toys) November 25, 2013
Other great deals from today:
The best deals that are still alive:
Black Friday:
New product announcements & reviews:
Originally demoed at Apple’s September 2012 event, to show off the power of the new fifth-generation iPod touch, Clumsy Ninja was said to be launching that holiday season; i.e. fall 2012. However, much like with the announcement of Infinity Blade Dungeons, the app never arrived. Whereas Dungeons ended up being axed entirely, it turns out that Clumsy Ninja was just severely delayed.
After over a year since the game was demoed, Clumsy Ninja has finally hit the App Store today. At Apple’s event, NaturalMotion described the game as an ‘interactive toy’ based on “years of research”. The game centres around a cute 3D ninja, which acts similarly to a virtual pet.
First spotted by Kotaku, it appears that Epic Games, developer of the Gears of War series for Xbox 360 and the Unreal Engine used to power many console and mobile games, may be working on an additional Infinity Blade sequel appropriately titled “Infinity Blade 3 for iPhone.” According to a Senior QA Tester’s LinkedIn profile, Epic’s iOS publishing arm, ChAIR, looks to be in the midst of either development or beta testing for a new Infinity Blade title to follow the studio’s last release, Infinity Blade II.
A prequel to the popular series entitled Infinity Blade: Dungeons was demonstrated by Epic Games at Apple’s iPad (3) with Retina Display announcement earlier last year, but the title still has yet to see the light of day. Infinity Blades: Dungeons was expected to launch sometime in the later half of 2012, but the company pushed back development of the title and then officially canceled the project earlier this year, squashing little remaining hope for the action-RPG’s eventual release.
Kotaku reports that major changes have been afoot at Epic Games since Chinese internet giant Tencent acquired a 40 percent stake in June 2012. Such a change in Epic’s management may have pushed back development of certain titles and may have even been responsible for Impossible Games (the studio responsible for Infinity Blade: Dungeons development) closure earlier this year. Tencent is often associated with an assortment of freemium titles, so many have wondered if Epic couldn’t find a way to bring such a model to Infinity Blade: Dungeons or if it may show up in a future release in the series. A freemium model would put the pay-to-play series in the same position as Real Racing 3, which was originally a pay-to-play title but then turned to a freemium model when the series’ developer Firemint was acquired by EA.
ChAIR has been unusually quiet since the release of the final content pack for Infinity Blade II last August, but Kotaku believes that the development of Infinity Blade 3 may be more of a reality than rumor due to nods from the company’s newly appointed Community Manager, Hilary Goldstein. In his first blog post as Community Manager, Goldstein hinted that fans may see a new tile in the coming months. If that’s true, we may actually see Infinity Blade 3 demoed alongside Apple’s latest hardware come this fall as with previous installments in the series. It’s also interesting to note that iOS7 will officially support third-party game controllers, and although the Infinity Blade is known for its touch-and-slash gameplay, we could see suport for more traditional controls as well.
For an app developer like Infinity Blade maker Epic Games, making an old iOS game free for a week accounted for an enormous boost in revenue and downloads. As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Epic’s decision to drop the price of its original Infinity Blade title from 99 cents to free brought the title up hundreds of spots in App Store rankings. The increase is highlighted in the chart above from AppData. While being featured as one of Apple’s “App of the Week” certainly didn’t hurt, temporarily switching to the freemium model allowed Epic to generate more money than it was earning when the app was 99 cents. It also created a nice increase in sales for the developer’s $7 Infinity Blade II sequel, as shown in AppData’s second chart below:
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As always, we’ll update the list of new apps and updates below as they hit the App Store:
Evernote 5 for iOS: Following the introduction of a new desktop version, Evernote is teasing the upcoming release of Evernote 5 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch on its blog today. Version 5 of the iOS app is completely redesigned and includes a new Quick Note button, a “Recent Notes” list on iPad, as well as “Views for Notes, Notebooks, Tags, and Places.” We get a preview of the new app in the video above.
Amtrak version 1.3: The official Amtrak app has added Passbook support today with the new eTickets now accepted at all stations:
From the integrated eTicket screen you select the action button to add it to Passbook. Passbook eTickets can be shown and scanned by conductors onboard Amtrak trains nationwide.
Podcasts version 1.1.2: Apple updated its Podcasts app today with a few new features and enhancements:
• Tapping a podcast in Top Stations now reveals episodes you can play
• You can now easily turn on automatic downloads for all subscribed podcasts in Settings
• Addresses an issue where previously played or deleted episodes unexpectedly reappear as new
• Resolves an issue where Podcasts may unexpectedly play after a phone call or alarm
• Includes additional stability and performance improvements
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A slew of apps updated today, and 9to5Mac gathered the most noteworthy ones in our regular round up below. Today’s crop includes new additions to popular iOS games, including an app going Retina and some sales, and we will continue to update this list throughout the day.
From 9to5Toys.com:
iOS and Mac developers alike are slashing prices of their hottest titles to celebrate the 4th of July. 9to5Toys will be keeping you in the loop all week long on the best deals. The links highlighting the new price will take you directly to iTunes to purchase immediately, no matter what device you’re on! Read on for the deals below:
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Other than the launch of the new Instagram clone “Facebook Camera” app, the biggest update today goes to the popular Tweetbot Twitter client for iPhone that is now at version 2.4. Included in the massive update is a new search view, as well as access to Trends, Top Tweets, and People that are now together in a single browse section. Nearby tweets were added with an option to change the location, and a ton of improvements to search, including location-based keywords and the ability to change trends’ location from within search view. And, that is only some of the features and fixes included Tweetbot 2.4.
Below is a complete list of features included in the update, with other notable apps and updates to hit the App Store today including the Infinity Blade II: Vault of Tears content pack.
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Gameloft has done a pretty good job of promoting the latest title in its Halo-inspired sci-fi FPS franchise known as “N.O.V.A- Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance.” Yesterday, it launched a new trailer for the iOS game (above), and today the follow-up to the first two critically acclaimed games, N.O.V.A 3, is finally going live on the App Store.
With vastly improved visuals thanks to real-time dynamic lighting and shadows, “movie-like” depth of field effects, and improved ragdoll physics, the new game is even closer to console-quality graphics and one of best looking iOS titles we have seen since Unreal Engine-powered Infinity Blade. New features include 12-player multiplayer on six maps, enhanced vehicle gameplay, and a ton of new weapons and enemies.
The universal app is already live on the New Zealand App Store for $9.99 and should hit the U.S. store any minute now. We will keep you updated.
A full list of new features below:
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With the announcement of the 2012 Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple also opened its Apple Design Awards nomination page for iOS and Mac developers. Apple announced last year that the annual awards would now only apply to Mac and iOS apps residing in the App Store, which appears to be the case this year as well.
Through the website set up for WWDC, developers can sign up and nominate apps for inclusion in the awards. To be considered, the app must be on the App Store or Mac App Store by May 1. Note: Apps that are not nominated can still win an Apple Design Award if they catch Apple’s eye.
Last year’s winners included iPhone apps Infinity Blade, Cut the Rope, and Golfscape GPS Rangefinder, and iPad apps djay for iPad, Osmos, and Our Choice. For Mac developers, apps including Capo, Pixelmator, and Anomaly Warzone Earth took home last year’s awards. At WWDC 2011, Apple also handed out awards to student developers, which will likely happen again—especially given Apple’s new scholarship program for the 2012 event.
Winners will get an Apple Design Award trophy and usually some Apple gear or prizes that have not been announced. Apple broke down the criteria for apps considered for the awards:
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Epic Games and Chair Entertainment, developers of the popular on-rails, hack-and-slash iOS franchise called “Infinity Blade,” just announced the two titles have earned over $30 million since the first game launched in the App Store in December 2010. Assuming “earnings” accounts for total earnings, Apple’s 30 percent cut would be $9 million.
Epic Games, Inc. and its award-winning Salt Lake City-based development studio, ChAIR Entertainment, today announced that earnings from ChAIR’s blockbuster Infinity Blade video game franchise have eclipsed $30 million in just one year since the introduction of the original game. One of the most popular gaming franchises to be launched on the App Store, the award-winning series has also created significant licensing interest in the underlying Unreal Engine 3 technology from developers worldwide.
In the announcement (via Joystiq), the developers also noted that Infinity Blade II reached over $5 million in net earnings since its release last month on Dec. 1, 2011. In comparison, it took the first Infinity Blade title three months to achieve that milestone. The first game now accounts for more than $23 million of the franchise’s earnings.
The original Infinity Blade is available as a universal download for $5.99 here. Infinity Blade 2, which IGN gave a “Perfect 10” score, is available for $6.99. The companies also noted a number of other products in the franchise were released, including the Infinity Blade: Awakening digital novel (on Amazon here), and the Infinity Blade: Original Soundtrack.
Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps said the following in a statement:
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Infinity Blade is to the iPad what the Halo series is to the Xbox 360 (or the Gran Turismo franchise to the PlayStation 3). That is, a killer game – a title so compelling that not only does it showcases what’s possible on a platform, but is also so impressive that folks go out and buy the hardware just to be able to play that particular game. A killer title for iPad gamers has to be Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade.
Classed as the first iOS game to run on the Unreal Engine, Infinity Blade went on to become the fastest-grossing app in the history of iOS, selling $1.6 million in four days. Three major updates later, Chair Entertainment launches Infinity Blade 2, a sequel to the elegiac action masterpiece. Here’s the blurb:
Journey into the world of the Deathless tyrants and their legion of Titans. Build skills and upgrade characters… all while delving deeper into this mysterious, timeless adventure.
Expect forty new locations (up from ten in the original title), many new hit points, weapons and spells, plus a bunch of other nuances and nice-to-haves. Chair is already thinking post-launch, teasing an update with the Clash Mobs feature where a bunch of other players attack a monster with millions of hit points. In case you were wondering, IGN gave Infinity Blade 2 a 10. A cornerstone of the sequel is, of course, graphics.
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The game features console-quality lighting effects.
The game runs fine on the original iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. However, you’ll want to enjoy it on your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S due to optimizations that really push the envelope of what’s possible on Apple’s A5 chip, especially in the lighting and shading department. Make no mistake, this is one game that you’ll want to show off to your Android-toting friends.
More information is available at the official site. The game hit the New Zealand App Store this morning. You should expect it in the U.S. store around 11pm Eastern time tonight at this URL, priced at $9.99 (a 941MB universal binary download). To celebrate the launch of Infinity Blade 2, Chair slashed the original Infinity Blade to just six bucks for a limited time. Release notes and more clips after the break, including Donald Mustard (creative director), Adam Ford (artistic director) and Geremy Mustard (technical director) talking the visuals.
More videos below:
Just in time for the iPad 2 launch today, first triple-A iPad games have received timely updates designed to take advantage of the gizmo’s advertised nine times graphics performance increase. Enhanced versions of both medieval sword fighting Infinity Blade by Chair and Electronic Arts’ Dead Space for iPad just went live on the App Store, proudly advertising prettier and more complex graphics made possible by the A5 chip inside iPad 2.
